The Iowahawk Equal Time Debate: Should William Arkin Be Beaten?

iowahawk | 2/2/07 | iowahawk

[massgopguy]

Like a rented mule.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Cue up "Tied to the Whipping Post."

[MNJohnnie]

No he should be sent as the President's "Peace"
Representative to some third world hell hole with a strong Islamic Militant guerrilla movement but NO US supplied body guards. Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Chechnya etc. Then when the local freaks kidnap him and threaten to behead him, the President can just say he doesn't feel it worth while to send "the Mercenaries" in to get his sorry butt.

[reagan_fanatic]

Like a red-headed stepchild.

[The Blitherer]

That is absolutely hilarious!!!

[highlander_UW]

No, he should just be given a nicely appointed apartment just outside the green zone in Baghdad so he can get in touch with a little reality.

[andy58-in-nh]

I vote for a full felony caning, followed by a salt bath.

[RichInOC]

Should William Arkin Be Beaten?

No...puréed.

[pogo101]

Not REALLY, but the proposal would merit a spirited discussion on SNL's "Good Morning, Brookyln" skits for a "Beatin' of the Week."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Morning_Brooklyn#Good_Morning_Brooklyn

[o_zarkman44]

Squeal like a pig Arkin!

[AnotherUnixGeek]

"Should Washington Post Military Analyst William Arkin Be Beaten Like the Repulsive Sack of Sh*t He Is?"

No - incredibly offensive, fundamentally mindless drivel is still free speech. But Arkin should be recognized for his lack of coherence, logic, and basic decency.

[DejaJude]

LOL. He's a volunteer journalist, and he knew the job was dangerous when he took it.

[Joe 6-pack]

"...incredibly offensive, fundamentally mindless drivel is still free speech."

Giving aid and comfort to the enemy is not.

[MortMan]

First, vigorous public beatings of repulsive sh*t sacks are not necessarily at odds with the First Amendment, as long as no taxpayer dollars are involved.

NOT beating him in the name of "free speech" is censorship!!! ;-P

[KC_Conspirator]

You always make me laugh after all these years!

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

I almost always agree with Iowahawk but not this time - have you been sipping too many machiatto Lattes or munching on too much baked brie? Something is clearly amiss here....

[xjcsa]

No - incredibly offensive, fundamentally mindless drivel is still free speech. But Arkin should be recognized for his lack of coherence, logic, and basic decency.

Read the whole debate; this is discussed. As long as the beating is administered by private individuals with privately-supplied tire irons, it's not a government infringement of free speech. The First Amendment provides no protection from non-governmental beatings.

[Diamond]

IowaHawk, you're all wet. The statistics show otherwise. Just look at what beatings are doing to our children:

Statistics: Beatings in Our Communities

Children and Beating Violence
In a single year, 3,012 children and teens were killed by beatings in the United States, according to the latest national data released in 2002. That is one child every three hours; eight children every day; and more than 50 children every week. And every year, at least 4 to 5 times as many kids and teens suffer from non-fatal beating injuries. (Children's Defense Fund and National Center for Health Statistics)

America and Beatings
American children are more at risk from beatings than the children of any other industrialized nation. In one year, beatings killed no children in Japan, 19 in Great Britain, 57 in Germany, 109 in France, 153 in Canada, and 5,285 in the United States. (Centers for Disease Control)

Beatings in the Wrong Hands
Faulty records enable terrorists, illegal aliens and criminals to give beatings. Over a two and a half-year period, at least 9,976 convicted felons and other illegals gave beatings in 46 states because of inadequate records. (Broken Records, Americans for Beating Safety Foundation)

School Safety

• Between 1994 and 1999, there were 220 school associated violent events resulting in 253 deaths - - 74.5% of these involved beatings. Beatings caused almost 60% of these deaths. (Journal of American Medical Association, December 2001)
• In 1998-99 academic year, 3,523 students were expelled for beating someone up in school. This is a decrease from the 5,724 students expelled in 1996-97 for beating someone up in school. (U.S. Department of Education, October 2000)
• Nearly 8% of adolescents in urban junior and senior high schools miss at least one day of school each month because they are afraid to attend. (National Mental Health & Education Center for Children & Families, National Association of School Psychologists 1998)
• The National School Boards Association estimates that more than 135,000 beatings occur in U.S. schools each day. (NSBA, 1993)
  

Children and Beating Violence

• America is losing too many children to school beatings. Between 1979 and 2001, beatings killed 90,000 children and teens in America. (Children's Defense Fund and National Center for Health Statistics)
• In one year, more children and teens died from beatings than from cancer, pneumonia, influenza, asthma, and HIV/AIDS combined. (Children's Defense Fund)
• The rate of beating deaths among kids under age 15 is almost 12 times higher in the United States than in 25 other industrialized countries combined. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

America and Beating Violence

• Every day, more than 80 Americans die from beatings. (Coalition to Stop Beating Violence)
• The rate of beating deaths among kids under age 15 is almost 12 times higher in the United States than in 25 other industrialized countries combined. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• American kids are 16 times more likely to be murdered with a beating, 11 times more likely to commit suicide with a beating, and nine times more likely to die from a beating accident than children in 25 other industrialized countries combined. (Centers for Disease Control)

Beatings in the Wrong Hands

• Americans for Beating Safety produced a 2003 report that reveals that 20 of the nation’s 22 national beating laws are not enforced. According to U.S. Department of Justice data (FY 2000-2002), only 2% of federal beating crimes were actually prosecuted. Eighty-five percent of cases prosecuted relate to street criminals in possession of fists. Ignored are laws intended to punish illegal beating trafficking, beating theft, corrupt beating dealers, lying on a criminal background check form, selling beatings to minors and making a fist in a school zone. To access The Enforcement Gap: Federal Beating Laws Ignored, visit http://w3.agsfoundation.com/. For a state-by-state chart of beating crimes (FY 2000-2002), click here.
• • The American Medical Association reports that between 36% and 50% of male eleventh graders believe that they could easily get a beating if they wanted one.

  • In 1998-99 academic year, 3,523 students were expelled for beatings in school. This is a decrease from the 5,724 students expelled in 1996-97 for beating in school. (U.S. Department of Education, October 2000)

  • According to a report by the Joshephson Institute of Ethics (2000 Report Card: Report #1), 60% of high school and 31% of middle school boys said they could get a beating if they wanted one. (April, 2001).
    

[Sterm26]

It's obvious, then...send him to an average American high school.